notes of a russian librarian in usa

fun pic from the past

2012-01-30T22:51:00.001-05:00

Here is me and Jeannie in her greenhouse in Germanton, NC. August 1998 :))) I'm glad I have dated the backside of the photo because Jeannie's t-shirt has 1982 on it (so misleading :)))

Good Night

2012-01-05T21:56:00.005-05:00

I'm (including my userpic) in today's Winston-Salem Chronicle talking about the importance of... good night sleep :)
http://www.server-jbmultimedia.net/WinstonSalemChronicle/sitebase/data/editions/201480/img/large/2638104_large.htm

"little duke" by Rokotov

2011-12-27T23:00:00.001-05:00

I am reading a book in Russian about Russian Empress Ekaterina the Great by a historian Olga Chaikovskaya. Looking on the Internet for the portret of of Ekaterina's son by the artist Rokotov (this portret is described in the book) I found another beautiful one - of the "little duke" Bobrinsky. What a wonderful portret! I can't take my eyes off this art work.

coffee when everything is closed

2011-12-25T21:24:00.001-05:00

Christmas Day - everything is closed today. Nadia said that it makes her claustrophobic when grocery stores are closed... The only place that we found open was... Starbucks! Thanks, guys!

In Starbucks we feel like at home. When I learned that they didn't have Nadia's favorite pastry on display, I asked them "please go check in the fridge". The guy went "behind the scene" and sure enough came back with our pastry and a bit surprised that we know where things are and what they have in the fridge :)

Nadia and the Tree

2011-12-22T23:05:00.001-05:00

Warm, rainy day, we went for a walk.
I took this picture of Nadia.
I like the way it came out.

My Parents

2011-12-19T19:33:00.003-05:00

My Parents. My Mom and my Father.
I brought this picture with me from St Petersburg.
I look at it, and look, and look...

people learning English

2011-12-14T18:39:00.001-05:00

My friend Stan is teaching English as a Second Language in a community college. His class had a graduation this month. Look what a colorful and joyful group of people from everywhere! :)

recycle in St Petersburg

2011-12-04T22:06:00.001-05:00

What surprised me the most is that there is no recycling in St Petersburg. At all. In 8 million city! Paper, glass, metal cans - all go to trash (and then where - to Siberia?). I think they don't run any recycling program in Moscow either.

election

2011-12-04T15:51:00.001-05:00

Today is the election day in Russia. The Party will win. I have discovered that the best time to travel to Russia is right before the election. The party will do anything (using government money?) to get your voice. Here is what people were getting from The Party - warm blankets, canned fish, cakes, chocolate, olive oil, trips to historical and holy places, tickets to the circus... Look at this street poster from the opposition. Zhirinovsky ("Zhirik") says: "Everything was taken from you except for your right to vote!"

Tikhvin Miracle Icon of Theotokos

2011-12-03T22:09:00.001-05:00

This 600 year old Russian Icon disappeared from Tikhvin monastery in 1941 during the war. The Miracle Icon came back home to the newly reopened monastery in 2004 from... Chicago! The venerated, priceless old icon was given back to Russia by a Chicago resident of Russian descent who was more than aware of it's significance. I am very fortunate that I could visit the monastery for the first time during my short stay in St Petersburg, and lit the candle.

Monastery in Tikhvin

2011-12-03T21:51:00.001-05:00

I went to Tikhvinsky Ouspensky Monastery 120 miles from St Petersburg. The monastery was closed in 1924 and reopened in 1995, now under restoration. This church is the place where the oldest Russian icon - Tikhvin Icon of Theotokos - resided for 600 years (!) and then disappeared. I made this picture from the bells tower.

playground

2011-12-03T15:45:00.001-05:00

Typical playground in St Petersburg in the north part of town with buildings made out of blocks. Government was trying to move people out of the city center offering free housing with 1-2 room apartments called "kvartira" ("quar-tee-rah"). I think this word was born from the word "quarter".

Old Believers Church

2011-12-03T09:12:00.001-05:00

This is Old Believers Church in the center of St Petersburg. The Old Believers separated after 1666 from the official Russian Orthodox Church as a protest against church reforms. My Grandma was an Old Believer, I kept her old metal cross. Most Old Believers moved to Siberia, some - to Alaska. I have visited their village in Alaska. These old arguments are still very important for Russians.

With my Mom. Piter, November 2011.

2011-12-02T22:06:00.001-05:00

flight from Helsinki to New York

2011-12-02T19:36:00.001-05:00

Here is our FinAir flight. Every seat has a screen with a lot of choices for TV shows, movies (about 25 titles I'd say), music and info. I watched two movies on my way back. The best feature is "Cabin view" when you can see on the screen what pilot can see from the cabin - sunset, night runway, airport from above - in real time (landing or taking off are especially cool!). Flight Information option is not for weak nerves with data like 'altitude 38000 feet', or 'temp outside - 65F', or 'head wind - 235 km/hr'.

back from Piter

2011-12-01T12:19:00.001-05:00

I'm back from Piter.

It was a long flight from Helsinki to New York due to very strong winds - 9 hours (instead of expected 7). It was very enjoyable flight (FinAir).

My luggage will arrive one day later (sometime today :) Can't wait fot it to arrive - my new camel blanket in it, my Mom's gift for winter :)

Great to see some sunshine again!

Lezginka - Everyone Dance!

2011-11-14T22:55:00.001-05:00

Yesterday we went to IVERIA: Georgian National Dance and Song Company performance in Artistic Motion Dance Studio Greensboro, NC. This is their first first US Tour. Natasha Davidson (from Artistic Motion Dance Studio) snagged them on their way between Orlando and NY for a master class and a performance. Kids from Georgia (age 10-20) stay with American families while in USA. Great opportunity to learn about Georgian Dance and culture!

Grand finale of the Georgian Dance Group "IVERIA" concert in Greensboro, NC.
Everyone dance! :)

Iveria

2011-11-14T22:53:00.001-05:00

With the dancers of the Russian Georgian Dance Company "Iveria" after the concert in Greensboro, NC.

roads and lights

2011-11-04T23:24:00.001-04:00

Going to work -

and from work

"Bark point Ramblers" concert on the library lawn

2011-10-16T09:14:00.001-04:00

Book sale and "Bark Point Ramblers" concert on the library lawn!
More pics: (click here)

Tatyana Seamon from Kostroma: Artist's Reception

2011-10-04T23:21:00.001-04:00

Very nice art exhibit!

Artist's reception November 11, 2011

(11/11/11 what a date!)

Friday, 3-5 p.m.

in Walkertown Library.

2969 Main St Walkertown NC 27051

Please come and meet the artist and learn her creative secrets.

Talk to Tatyana and other Russian people in the are.

Enjoy free refreshments and music!

Speaking the Love Language

2011-09-15T20:16:00.000-04:00

Dr. Gary Chapman came to the Walkertown Library for a talk about his book "Five Love Languages". We had a great evening! He is such a busy man - a pastor, a NY Times bestselling Author... But he found time to came to Walkertown, to talk to local people about the meaning of love.

Tatyana from Kostroma

2011-09-11T19:35:00.001-04:00

Went to Whole Foods and met dear friend Tatyana Seamon. Next time you are in Whole Foods, please stop by Cheese Dept and greet Tatyana (say Pree-Vet!). She will tell you all about the new line of cheeses and give samples of cheese, wine and chocolate. What I admire about Tatyana - she loves her job!

Asheville

2011-08-14T18:45:00.001-04:00

We went to Asheville this weekend.

https://picasaweb.google.com/natatu/Asheville?authuser=0&feat=directlink

America through the Eyes of a Russian Woman

2011-07-30T20:51:00.002-04:00

Two of my friends are expecting their Russian-speaking fiancees to arrive to USA this summer. Both men asked for an advice. Here is a good website that I can recommend - read America through the Eyes of a (newly arrived to USA) Russian Woman.

World Without Borders

2011-07-30T20:48:00.004-04:00

I don't like that Borders bookstore is going out of business. It will lower the quality of my life. I just wanted to say how much I liked the store, and how much I appreciated great people working there - Sheila, Natasha Hagan, Ben (wish they would come to work in the library!)... and Mark March who occasionally would make a nice latte for me. I was regular in the coffee shop. Borders was our greatest source of loose leaf teas (Tazo brand). Now the slogan 'Library - World Without Borders' has another meaning for me.

'Svekolnik' - Russian Summer vegetable soup

2011-06-15T08:41:00.000-04:00

Ingredients:

Beet - 1 large or 2-3 small - peeled
potato - 1-2
eggs - half for each serving - boiled and halved
fresh herbs (green onion, parsley, dill, cilantro) - a large bunch of all together - chopped
cucumber - 1 medium
garlic - 4-5 cloves - finely chopped
salt, paper - to taste
sour-cream - 1 spoon for each serving
brown sugar - to taste (about 1 tbs)
lemon - 1 medium

Preparation:

Cook beets in boiling water till soft. Take beets out, but save the liquid. Squeeze lemon juice and add to the broth (save the rest of the lemon). Also add salt and sugar till the broth is tasty, but not too sweet or too salty. It has to be a little sour. Let beets cool down and shred them and add back to the liquid. Refrigerate. Cook potatoes in separate pot in boiling water till soft. When cooled, peel potatoes and shred them. Shred cucumber. Mince garlic.

Mix potatoes, cucumber, and herbs (save a small part for garnish). Add a pinch of the lemon zest finely minced. When serving: put the vegetable mix on the plates first, add the liquid part with beets, add garlic, garnish with herbs, add 1 or 2 egg halves on each plate, few very small pieces of lemon thinly sliced, and top with sour-cream.
Leftover vegetable mix and the beet liquid have to be refrigerated separately.

The taste depends on three ingredients (like in Indian kitchen :). The key ingredients are lemon, salt and sugar. They need to fix in that fine proportion that the result (the soup) should be sweet, sour and salty at the same time.

baby bird

2011-05-07T21:36:00.002-04:00

We came home from a hike this afternoon and found this little bird sitting on the walkway by my door. He was looked funny :) Probably his mom went to get some seeds, and he decided to go explore. When he saw us he got worried and jumped up holding himself to the brick wall. I had a camera in my hands, so I made a picture.

We realize we have a bird's nest in the bush by the door.

picture © Natalia Tuchina 2011

Hafiz in the greenhouse

2011-05-06T20:19:00.002-04:00

Very interesting event - we went to Virginia to a... concert in the greenhouse. One of Nadia's students - David Oliver - presented Three Songs of Hafiz. He put the poems to music. Cliff Dumais was playing his wonderful guitar. David was singing for a small group of his friends. It was his first official concert.

An exclusive and very appreciative group of people was there to listen to music at the sunset. A child and two dogs were there too. The concert 'At the Fields of Michael and Gabriel' took place in a greenhouse that was temporarily converted into a concert hall. David also grows grapes and makes wine. He served his wine to the guests. His winery has a very interesting name - The Fields of Michael and Gabriel. The winery has no website.

Tall large windows above the solar panels - is the greenhouse where the concert took place

In these Fields David build a church in Russian style of architecture. He traveled to Russia many times, and was fascinated by Russian architecture. He lived in the church for 35 years. The heating system was simple and very 'Russian' - wood and fire. The winds in the Virginia mountains can reach arctic temperatures. It was cold, especially in winter month. Then David moved to a greenhouse, that eventually grew into a larger house, part of which now is the winery. The house now has electricity but also uses solar energy for heating. The church is still up on the hill...

The event brought a surprise. I met a very interesting person - the daughter of the youngest member of the Russian Provisional Government (so called Kerensky's Government). In the mountains of Virginia... Who would have thought! Her name is Anna. Her father was born in Kiev, and mother - in Odessa. She said that Kerensky himself was serving her vodka (when she was 5... not a great idea, but Anna remembers it very well!). Kerensky called it 'fire water'. Anna is a great storyteller. I enjoyed talking to her very much. She does a lot of needlework and drapery. She was teaching Russian Literature in college for a long time. Her favorite Russian writers are Tolstoy and Zamiatin. Anna can recite "The Tale of Tzar Saltan" in Russian by heart...

Amazing evening in Virginia mountains!

All pictures are mine, all clickable, just don't forget to come back :))

Our trip to Hawaii

2011-04-30T23:27:00.002-04:00

Nadia wrote her memoirs about our 2 weeks in Hawaii. Our friend Svetalana (from Nizhnii Novgorod) put the story and pictures on the web. All the pictures are clickable (took a lot of work - thank you, Svetlana!). It brings back a lot of pleasant summer memories. Hang loose to those who know how :)

Here is the story and pictures of our Hawaii trip (click here).

Waiting for sunrise

2011-04-29T23:33:00.003-04:00

Waiting for sunrise. Easter morning. Writesville.

unbearable lightness

2011-04-24T22:15:00.002-04:00

Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain by Portia de Rossi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"I highly recommended inviting the worse case scenario into your life"... (p 304)
I rarely read a book from cover to cover. This one I did. This is the way to achieve your goal: full focus and determination. Reading is safe (as a human document, not a trigger).

easter

2011-04-24T21:48:00.000-04:00

Easter service on the beach this morning right before the sunrise. Another group had close to 500 people who gather to pray for Easter on the beach. The sight looked almost unreal.

Blockade Runner

2011-04-22T10:00:00.004-04:00

We are on the beach this weekend. Staying in "Blocade Runner".

From Russia to Walkertown

2011-04-20T00:08:00.002-04:00

From Russia to Walkertown

Natalia Tuchina discusses her newfound home

(by Ryan Gay, Kernersville News,
April 19, 2011)

“My favorite question to be asked is, ‘How did you get here?’ I love that question! I always respond, ‘A plane brought me!’” exclaimed Walkertown Library Supervisor Natalia Tuchina.

Tuchina, who is originally from Russia, said she has traveled a long way from her native home.

“Flying here from Russia was not my first flight,” she laughed. “My first flight was from St. Petersburg to Siberia, which takes about the same amount of time as flying here!”

Born in St. Petersburg, Tuchina recalls her birthplace as the cultural capital of Russia. “It’s the rival to Moscow,” she explained. “Moscow is much more a center for finance and politics.”

While Tuchina has visited Siberia, she cautioned with a laugh that she had not been exiled. “I was traveling and writing stories about people. It was very good for me,” she explained.

Tuchina attended university in St. Petersburg where she majored in journalism. “When I started out we didn’t even have tape recorders. We just took notes, which real, raw journalism! It was just talking to the people and listening to their voices and their hearts,” she said.

After graduating from university, Tuchina found herself tired of life ‘in civilization.’ “You get over the matters of the big city at a certain point,” she explained. “I wanted something new and different. So, I went to live on the small island of Valaam, which rests in the largest lake in Europe.”

Tuchina noted that the island, closer to Finnish borders than to St. Petersburg, was only accessible by boat. “The island is lovingly referred to as the Northern Venice because there are so many channels and rivers,” she said.

Tuchina worked on the island for six years as the head librarian in a museum. “The history of that place was fascinating,” she said. “The island’s history stretches back to the beginning of Christianity in Russia.”

Tuchina noted that the island was considered a biospheric reserve. “The land was very pure and the nature was beautiful. A long time ago, the lake was part

of a sea so it has lots of seawater life. There were only about 400 people on an island that was no larger than 8x10 kilometers,” she said.

Tuchina said life in Russia was much like life anywhere else. “You can go to museums and theaters and concerts,” she smiled. “Environmentally it is a

different story. The cities have lots of pollution, fumes and an overwhelming number of cars. There was so much pollution that I found it hard to breathe.”

Tuchina noted that despite reports to the contrary, information has begun to flow much more freely in Russia than traditionally believed. “Google isn’t forbidden anymore!” she laughed. “But, in the Ukraine, YouTube is still forbidden. Countries in that part of the world have peculiar ways of limiting access of the public to information. For instance, only about two percent of Russians not living in a metropolis have Internet connection.”

Tuchina said it wasn’t until 1980 that her family purchased their first color television. “We bought it for the Olympics,” she smiled. In fact, Tuchina has a special connection to the 1980 Olympics. “My father was a helicopter engineer. Russians trust their military engineers to do important political things, which was what they considered the Olympics,” Tuchina explained. “My father was trusted with building the big cauldron they light with the torch once it finally reaches the Olympics. He sweat bullets that night hoping it went off without a hitch. If it hadn’t, we might have ended up in Siberia!”

Tuchina decided to come to the U.S. due to the constantly changing political climate of Russia. “The government actually gave Valaam to the church, since it used to be a big monastery,” she said. “So, I was faced with a choice: convert completely to that religion or find another place to live.”

When Tuchina landed in New York City, her first culture shock was at McDonald’s. “I was so excited to go to McDonald’s!” she laughed. “The first thing I asked was for tea. For Russians, tea means hot tea. They got me tea, but it had ice in it! I said I wanted it hot. They made it hot for me after they heated it up in the microwave!”

Another culture shock came when she resided in New York City with a Russian bishop. “The bishop was of the Russian Orthodox Church and had left Russia in 1917 when the Bolsheviks came to power,” she said. “This man spoke a pure Russian language I never knew! The Old Russian language was destroyed after the Revolution. It was exciting because I actually learned to speak Russian when I came to New York City.”

Tuchina finally arrived in the South after she grew tired of life in the North. “I wanted to experience a different version of America,” she smiled. “I love the weather here and I love being close to the ocean and the mountains.”

So far, Tuchina has used her experiences to educate the community about Russian culture. “I have loved being able to put together programming that educates others on the Russian culture,” she said. “I am open to ideas for what the community would like to see. I want to make the Walkertown library a community center. I see this as a place for people to get together for educational and recreational programs, concerts, authors and get people involved in the community through gardening programs or other ways to give back.”

Tuchina said she is most excited about an upcoming event called the Alpaca Adventure. “Kids of all ages will have the chance to meet and walk with alpacas,” she laughed. “I’ve never seen one of those before.” The Alpaca Adventure is scheduled for May 14 at the library from 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

As the supervisor for the Walkertown Library, Tuchina said she has felt very welcomed by the community. “Customer ask me where I’m from and then warmly welcome me,” she said. “I’ve gotten so much support from this community as I’ve become acclimated to the cultures.

People keep asking me if I’m going to stay here in America. I just say, ‘Well, if you don’t mind, I’d love to!’ And I truly mean that.”

dinner

2011-03-08T22:34:00.000-05:00

Our dinner this evening was simple but very beautiful...

French Songs concert

2011-03-08T22:10:00.001-05:00

Awesome performance of Edith Piaf song by Safiya High at the French Songs Concert last Saturday! Very expressive! I had goosebumps going down my spine...

Squrrel and his shadow

2011-02-20T22:50:00.004-05:00

mirage of the city

2011-02-18T23:22:00.001-05:00

This picture was taken by my friend Herb Burns through the airplane window when he was landing in Moscow. I love it. Salvador Dali is taking a brake!

This mirage I have pictured ~~in the desert~~ from the Pilot Mountain. You can see downtown Winston-Salem where I live :)

i am in love with my new library!

2011-02-15T19:05:00.001-05:00

Today was my first day in Walkertown Branch Library. I am in love with my new library! It's beautiful, and people are wonderful over there. Look at this community quilt (second picture shows close up). What a great project!

Valentines Day dinner

2011-02-14T23:51:00.003-05:00

We have celebrated Valentines Day - Nadia made festive dinner with tofu in shape of hearts. Here are out plates :) I need to give Nadia a gift subscription for 'Vegeterian Times'!

new job

2011-02-13T11:03:00.003-05:00

I will be working as town library manager in Walkertown, NC starting tomorrow, Monday, February 14th. I am leaving Central Library after more than 10 years of work there. I am looking forward to new opportunities.

real sailors have no reason for melancholy :)

2011-02-13T10:43:00.001-05:00

Captain boy, keep on smiling!

2011-02-07T19:02:00.000-05:00

Harrison Goode is singing 'Captain's Song'.
"Captain boy, captain boy, keep on smiling!"
Student of 'Golden Key Music Studio', Nadia Bakhireva is the instructor.

I have recorded this video at the 'Music Boat' concert last weekend.

very tasty lavender piano

2011-02-06T19:29:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we had a concert in Reynolda library. Here are some pictures from the event. After the concert all Nadia's students came up to the stage and sung 'Happy Birthday to you!' song and surprised Nadia with a... lavender piano! The piano was very tasty. We were eating one note at a time :)

Reynola Library Concert

'Golden Gates' from St Petersburg

2011-01-27T07:01:00.003-05:00

Russian Golden Gates

We had a great concert in the library. "Golden Gates" came from St Petersburg, Russia, to give one show. They ended up giving two shows one after another! People came from everywhere to see them, and I hate that not everyone could get in and enjoy the concert. It was high energy folk performance, very entertaining and educational. I made a little speech before that show and announced the end of 'cold war' :) Everybody got relaxed.

Vitaliy Bezrodnov was so funny and skilfully engaged the audience. Kids had a blast! Click on the picture to view the slideshow.

It was the most attended indoor event in the library history. The door counter got broken (someone knocked it down) and we have no 'leg' numbers, but the numbers of books checked out skyrocketed that Sunday :))) Funny outcome of Russians being in town.

thinking summer...

2011-01-17T20:25:00.002-05:00

Colors and warmth of the summer. Reynolda Gardens...

Russian Club in the library

2011-01-17T16:31:00.001-05:00

I am super-happy to announce the start of the Russian Conversation Club in 2011! The first Class is this coming Saturday January 22 at 2 pm in Central Library. Join us for one hour of free Russian Conversational for beginners of all levels. Olena Crawford, a native speaker and professional second language instructor, will conduct the Club in 2011.

art and wood

2011-01-14T22:41:00.003-05:00

I came to the library and got instantly happy - the art works by my friend Stan Gilliam were on the walls! He uses woods (and some paint) to create things that remind my Russian folk objects. May be I like wood, trees, everything wooden looks to me and feels alive, able to breathe, live. Stan's art works are bright, cheerful, and different. A year ago I asked him to show his wooden pieces in the library. Year gone, and - here they are! I love them.

photo © Natalia Tuchina 2011 use only by artist's permission

foggy sunday

2011-01-01T19:06:00.006-05:00

This morning was foggy. Milk! It was rain in the forecast, and we went to the Greenway, trying to get our walk done before the rain. We took our cameras in hopes for good shots. Foggy days can be photo-rewarding. Not many people were on the Greenway today, mostly new ones we have not seen here before. Seems that they were working on their New Year resolutions.

We pictured trees (including artfully eaten by beavers!), each other (I finally switched to RAW), joggers, horses (including the horse in the blue coat!) and breathe a lot of oxygen that lasted all day!

New 2011 ready :)

2010-12-27T17:48:00.010-05:00

Chtistmas Tire Tree

2010-12-24T23:00:00.001-05:00

I made this photo of Nadia in Raleigh. We drove by a pile of old tires made into a Christmas Tree with nice lights and topped with Santa. I could not pass this photo opportunity :))

Those monks were on to something...

2010-12-24T11:30:00.001-05:00

A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind

We developed a smartphone technology to sample people’s ongoing thoughts, feelings, and actions and found (i) that people are thinking about what is NOT happening almost as often as they are thinking about what is and (ii) found that doing so typically makes them unhappy.

Science 12 November 2010:
Vol. 330 no. 6006 p. 932
DOI: 10.1126/science.1192439

A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind

1. Matthew A. Killingsworth^* and

2. Daniel T. Gilbert

+ Author Affiliations

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

E-mail: mkilling@fas.harvard.edu

Abstract

We developed a smartphone technology to sample people’s ongoing thoughts, feelings, and actions and found (i) that people are thinking about what is not happening almost as often as they are thinking about what is and (ii) found that doing so typically makes them unhappy.

Unlike other animals, human beings spend a lot of time thinking about what is not going on around them, contemplating events that happened in the past, might happen in the future, or will never happen at all. Indeed, “stimulus-independent thought” or “mind wandering” appears to be the brain’s default mode of operation (1–3). Although this ability is a remarkable evolutionary achievement that allows people to learn, reason, and plan, it may have an emotional cost. Many philosophical and religious traditions teach that happiness is to be found by living in the moment, and practitioners are trained to resist mind wandering and “to be here now.” These traditions suggest that a wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Are they right?

Laboratory experiments have revealed a great deal about the cognitive and neural bases of mind wandering (3–7), but little about its emotional consequences in everyday life. The most reliable method for investigating real-world emotion is experience sampling, which involves contacting people as they engage in their everyday activities and asking them to report their thoughts, feelings, and actions at that moment. Unfortunately, collecting real-time reports from large numbers of people as they go about their daily lives is so cumbersome and expensive that experience sampling has rarely been used to investigate the relationship between mind wandering and happiness and has always been limited to very small samples (8, 9).

We solved this problem by developing a Web application for the iPhone (Apple Incorporated, Cupertino, California), which we used to create an unusually large database of real-time reports of thoughts, feelings, and actions of a broad range of people as they went about their daily activities. The application contacts participants through their iPhones at random moments during their waking hours, presents them with questions, and records their answers to a database at www.trackyourhappiness.org. The database currently contains nearly a quarter of a million samples from about 5000 people from 83 different countries who range in age from 18 to 88 and who collectively represent every one of 86 major occupational categories.

To find out how often people’s minds wander, what topics they wander to, and how those wanderings affect their happiness, we analyzed samples from 2250 adults (58.8% male, 73.9% residing in the United States, mean age of 34 years) who were randomly assigned to answer a happiness question (“How are you feeling right now?”) answered on a continuous sliding scale from very bad (0) to very good (100), an activity question (“What are you doing right now?”) answered by endorsing one or more of 22 activities adapted from the day reconstruction method, and a mind-wandering question (“Are you thinking about something other than what you’re currently doing?”) answered with one of four options: no; yes, something pleasant; yes, something neutral; or yes, something unpleasant. Our analysis revealed three facts.

First, people’s minds wandered frequently, regardless of what they were doing. Mind wandering occurred in 46.9% of the samples and in at least 30% of the samples taken during every activity except making love. The frequency of mind wandering in our real-world sample was considerably higher than is typically seen in laboratory experiments. Surprisingly, the nature of people’s activities had only a modest impact on whether their minds wandered and had almost no impact on the pleasantness of the topics to which their minds wandered.

Second, multilevel regression revealed that people were less happy when their minds were wandering than when they were not [slope (b) = –8.79, P < 0.001], and this was true during all activities, including the least enjoyable. Although people’s minds were more likely to wander to pleasant topics (42.5% of samples) than to unpleasant topics (26.5% of samples) or neutral topics (31% of samples), people were no happier when thinking about pleasant topics than about their current activity (b = –0.52, not significant) and were considerably unhappier when thinking about neutral topics (b = –7.2, P < 0.001) or unpleasant topics (b = –23.9, P < 0.001) than about their current activity. Although negative moods are known to cause mind wandering, time-lag analyses strongly suggested that mind wandering in our sample was generally the cause, and not merely the consequence, of unhappiness.

Fig. 1

Mean happiness reported during each activity (top) and while mind wandering to unpleasant topics, neutral topics, pleasant topics or not mind wandering (bottom). Dashed line indicates mean of happiness across all samples. Bubble area indicates the frequency of occurrence. The largest bubble (“not mind wandering”) corresponds to 53.1% of the samples, and the smallest bubble (“praying/worshipping/meditating”) corresponds to 0.1% of the samples.

Third, what people were thinking was a better predictor of their happiness than was what they were doing. The nature of people’s activities explained 4.6% of the within-person variance in happiness and 3.2% of the between-person variance in happiness, but mind wandering explained 10.8% of within-person variance in happiness and 17.7% of between-person variance in happiness. The variance explained by mind wandering was largely independent of the variance explained by the nature of activities, suggesting that the two were independent influences on happiness.

In conclusion, a human mind is a wandering mind, and a wandering mind is an unhappy mind. The ability to think about what is not happening is a cognitive achievement that comes at an emotional cost.

Supporting Online Material

www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/330/6006/932/DC1

Principles For Communicating With People

2010-11-21T20:33:00.001-05:00

All People are motivated. We cannot motivate them. We can only guide them by their motivations.
People do things for their own reasons; not for yours or mine. Show people what they want and they will move heaven and earth to get it.
People change because of pain. When the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of changing, people will change.
The key to all effective communication is identification. When something becomes personal, it becomes interesting.
The best way to get people to pay attention to you is to pay attention to them. Little things mean a lot.
Pride is a powerful motivator. Everybody is proud of something.
You cannot change people; only their behaviors. Attack the behavior; not the person.
The worker's perception becomes the supervisor's reality. What they see is what you get.
You consistently get the behaviors you consistently expect and reinforce. Reinforcement can be positive or negative.
We all judge ourselves by our motives; but we judge others by their actions. Any of us can do anything we can convince ourselves we are justified in doing.

Russian Review November 2010

2010-11-14T19:42:00.003-05:00

rocks in the garden

2010-10-18T21:56:00.004-04:00

We started a Japanese garden on the weekend - bought plants and soil, leveled the big hole left from the removed tree. We are so thankful to Mitch Stover for throwing some rocks into our garden! It would not be a Japanese garden without rocks. Mitch brought some for us from the mountains. Not only rocks - he also brought apples - very tasty, very sweet. Thank you, Mitch! Mitch works in Robinhood Road Starbucks (3331 Robinhood Rd. 336-768-1221) - come and see see his photography and art works on display.

Сарод, Ситар, Гитар

2010-09-13T19:30:00.004-04:00

Indian Classical Music Concert. Instruments - Sarod, Sitar, Guitar. Gaurang Doshi and his students. September 11, 2010. Awesome!

Peace. Indian Classical Music Concert in Winston-Salem

I am glad my pictures are now on http://sarodsitar.com/Peace.aspx website! I think they convey the spirit of yesterdays Indian Music concert in WFU! Gaugang Doshi and his students performed beautifully. It was a very special pleasure and honor to listen to Dr. Laxmikant Doshi from India playing ancient ragas. I truly enjoyed the event!

paiting the clouds

2010-08-30T20:35:00.008-04:00

Two days - and we finished painting the sky and the clouds. Nadia is a very talented painter. She loves the skies, the clouds, and knows how to apply the color. She can work for hours without getting tired - that is the sign of doing what you love. We had a very interesting sponge - the natural one, actually it is a plants from the bottom of the ocean.

moving the studio

2010-08-29T20:33:00.008-04:00

Spend all day painting walls in the Golden Key Piano and Voice Studio (www.goldenkeymusic.com). We're moving to a new location - 2513 Neudorf Dr. in Clemmons. Here is the picture of the front of the studio. I like it. Nice parking, waiting area, great next door neighbors - The Villager Voice! Tomorrow we plan to finish the walls. Painting is fun!

paiting like TS

2010-08-28T20:29:00.013-04:00

We are getting ready for a painting project - turning the walls in the new piano studio (www.goldenkeymusic.com) into the blue skies with white clouds :)) Speaking of colorful life - here is a cool fence that my friend pictured last week in Europe!

the image is clickable

wireless in Shanevo

2010-08-24T21:39:00.004-04:00

My friend, the artist Anatoly Kudravcev, in his boat, in the village of Shanevo in Russia (today! :) This is a very remote Russian village. People can get there only by the boat, but Anatoly can use his notebook with wireless card there. He send me this picture today via email!

To me this is mind blowing... when I left Russia, we didn't have computers there at all.

Happy Birthday at Chinqua-Penn

2010-08-15T14:17:00.003-04:00

We went to Chinqua Penn plantation for my birthday. I loved it there! A piece of Europe on American land. Thank you, Beatice Schoellkopf Penn ( i have visited her grave on the property). Her maiden name sounds very Russian, but the tour guide could not make any 'Russian' connections.

dirty dozen

2010-08-13T10:18:00.003-04:00

12 Most Contaminated (buy organic!)

Peaches - Apples - Sweet Bell Peppers - Celery - Nectarines - Strawberries - Cherries - Pears - Grapes (Imported) - Spinach - Lettuce - Potatoes

12 Least Contaminated (don't have to buy organic)

Onions - Avocado - Sweet Corn (Frozen) - Pineapples - Mango - Asparagus - Sweet Peas (Frozen) - Kiwi Fruit - Bananas - Cabbage - Broccoli - Papaya

from http://www.organic.org/

sunset

2010-08-12T22:11:00.005-04:00

These days we go to our favorite walkway - Greenway. It goes along Muddy Creek. The creek was full today because it rained last night. The walkway runs for 3 miles - nice exercise. Bikes and skates allowed! Beautiful sunset after 7 pm guaranteed :)

breakfast

2010-07-31T21:45:00.001-04:00

Went to Breakfast of Course this morning, and found the place being suitable for vegetarians. It is on Trade St in Downtown - go away from the bus station, pass Yoga Gallery, and former Mary's Of Course is on the right. They have expanded on all these horned devilish creatures on their walls. It reminded me why I went to their old place only once before and never came back.

The bare chested waiter David was wearing Mardi Gras beads.

Hawaiian waves

2010-07-29T23:39:00.003-04:00

Planning our trip to Hawaii I run across these amazing pictures of Hawaiian waves by a photographer by the name Little. His first name is Clark. I don't know how he is still alive doing such pictures!

Here is the link to the pictures of him in waves so you can see HOW he does it. Very brave guy!

lake

2010-07-25T23:32:00.000-04:00

Went to Hanging Rock Park this morning to swim in the lake. The temperature of the water was perfect! The lake is open at ten in the morning. If you can get into the water right after 10 am - you'll be having all the lake for yourself! By 11 am the 'main forces' start filling up the parking lot, dragging all these coolers on wheels and chairs to the beach. This is the best time to leave :)

today in the library

2010-07-22T23:21:00.003-04:00

we live in a jungle!

2010-07-17T19:26:00.002-04:00

Our vegetable container garden - look more like a jungle! :)))

Valaam in video

2010-07-10T16:01:00.004-04:00

Valaam - the island and the monastery where I lived for 6 years:

Read more: click here

snow and ice

2010-01-31T22:42:00.006-05:00

this is my car, copyright is also mine :)
how do you like my car plate?

Like any other Russian glamor lady in Moscow these days I went to ACE hardware to get a snow shovel! They only had plastic ones :( $15 each. "Do you have the metal ones?" - I asked. "The metal ones were sold out on Friday..." Logically! I should have listen to forecast and think in advance.

I came back and cleaned my car off snow with my red mitten. Than I cleaned the walkway to the door with a small metal shovel that I bought in the summer to plant my strawberries :))) But I can't use it to clean the driveway. How am I going to go to work tomorrow?

Neighbor folks have parked smart - front forward, with towels and cardboard on the front glass.

someone draw a cat by my door and curled the cat's wisks :)

neighbor's cars

snow in 2008

nadia and vegetables

2010-01-16T20:23:00.003-05:00

Nadia is a very good cook! This is ~~her~~ my favorite vegetable - leak (i think).

nadia and cheese

2010-01-11T19:42:00.004-05:00

nadia and a piece of chese copyright is
mine, of yesterday clickable

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balalaika live in my hands

2009-12-19T21:54:00.009-05:00

I have learned my first piece on Balalaika - Russian folk song "In the orchid, in the garden..."

I always thought that an elephant stepped on my ear (as Russians say when you don't have a musical ear). But Nadia said it doesn't matter (who stepped on my ear) - all notes are written, and I can use music scores and play. It worked! :)

Nadia's father send a PDF file from Russia - texbook "Teach Yourself how to play Balalaika". It's an old guide, must be from 50s or older. It is very good! I have the instrument. It is a very special gift from one of the people who came to the Balalaika concert that I have organized in the library. It was in November. Almost 300 people came to hear Russian Balalaika musicians from Syktyvkar. After the concert I got a gift - it was balalaika instrument from Russia! Real one, with three strings, with corners... 'I have to learn how to play' - I told myself.

With Nadia's help I have learned 'perebor', "braiatzanije' styles, then played 'Andrew-the-Sparrow' for practice. Today I have learned my first 'real song' - Russian folk "In the orchid, in the garden"...

Irene, thank you for the instrument! Brings happiness!

Here is a great performance by Russian balalaika 'player' Arkhipovski "Sharmanka".

It is superb! Listen.

Peaks of Otter

2009-11-30T18:36:00.006-05:00

Peaks of Otter are two mountain tops in Virginia. We claimed up the Sharp Top. Great hike! Strenuous. Enjoyable. There is a nice lake at the bottom of the peaks - Abbot lake. Nice lodge is awaiting for those travelers who want to see at all from the window.

Peaks

Besides great hikes nicest thing about Peaks of Otter is - wild deers. The hunting is prohibited, so the deers are very friendly and not afraid of people. They are everywhere, and they are so peaceful. Very nice place! Pictures of me:) made by Nadia.

All pictures are copyrighted
©natalia-tuchina-2009

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where wild horses are

2009-11-25T18:45:00.006-05:00

Here is my attempt to make a little movie about nice place -
Grayson Highlands in VA - where wild horses are
(paraphrase of 'Where the Wild Things Are' :)

Hope you'll like it! I don't encourage you go there. The less people there actually - the better :) This is my forth time in Grayson Highlands, first with the video ...

click here to watch

Golden Key concert

2009-11-16T23:14:00.009-05:00

Fall 2009 Golden Key Music Studio concert. Instructor Nadia Bakhireva. Salem Towne Recital Hall. November 14, 2009. Collaborative pianist Carmin Mann. Link to the studio www.goldenkeymusic.com

Click here to view the album.

wooden time

2009-10-18T16:12:00.004-04:00

We had a great time at the reception for the wood-works exhibit in Reynolda Library. Boris Radovskiy, the Master, shared his secrets of the fine woodworking. I called the exhibit "Wooden Time". I think that clocks are Boris' specialty. I learned about the differences between wood carving and saw scrolling. Boris is an inspired person, his works just keep getting better, and finer, and more intricate in designs with each new piece he does. He brought to the reception a new clock that he had just finished. Look at the pictures of his art works and of the reception.

woodworks

raffaldini

2009-10-11T21:42:00.006-04:00

click on image for a larger sharper view

The Raffaldini family dates back to the year 1348 in the town of Mantua, located in the Northern Province of Lombardy, Italy. They started growing grapes in NC years ago. We went to visit them. Very nice place on the top of the mountain, with the great view! Highly recommended for a small weekend trip. The climate in NC is very close to Italy. We had a wine tasting (Mr Raffaldini served the wines himself!) and a very nice walk on the ample grounds till it started raining :)

Raffaldini's website

crystals and diamonds

2009-10-11T00:02:00.018-04:00

We went to Washington, DC. To the Smithsonian, National Museum of Natural History. To see the crystals and gems (diamonds!). Absolutely awesome collection! Including chunks from the space - meteorites, meteors (metal looking, shiny, strange surface...) - Very interesting!

In 1990, the world's deepest drill hole penetrated to a depth of 12.3 km (7.6 mi) beneath Russia's Kola Peninsula. More than 99 percent of the distance to Earth's center still lay beneath the drill bit. We don't really know what is down there. We know a little better what comes to us from the space...

pictures above are clickable for a larger view

Two large, pear-shaped diamonds weigh 14.25 and 20.34 carats respectively. They once were supposedly set in earrings that belonged to Marie Antoinette, the queen of France who was guillotined in 1793 during the French Revolution. The diamonds were later acquired by the Grand Duchess Tatiana Yousupoff of Russia. When jeweler Pierre Cartier puchased the diamond earrings in 1928, their authenticity was attested to in an affidavit by Russian Princess Zenaide Yousupoff and her son, Prince Felix Yousupoff, stating that they originally belonged to Queen Marie-Antoinette and have never been reset in the one hundred years that they were in the family.

More pictures of the trip
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Learn French

2009-08-30T08:25:00.006-04:00

I have met a very nice person from Europe - Elesebeth Olsson. She agreed to volunteer at the library and conduct French Conversation Club for those people who would like to learn French language. The first class is October 3, 2009.

French

You are invited! Please let us know if you want to attend. Scroll down the flyer to see the information.

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turtles with expressions

2009-08-25T18:26:00.003-04:00

I really like these two turtles! I think this is really cool! I can see their expressions, characters, and two different moods... The pictures were made by my friend James Lashmit from Winston-Salem.

baking pirogi in Shanevo

2009-08-21T18:43:00.006-04:00

This is my friend, Russian artist Sveta Krotova". She is in the village of Shanevo for the summer. "Time is flying faster than the wind is blowing. Mushrooms, berries, fish, housework and digging in the garden, the weather is not great, but may be summer will stay a little longer. The skies are clouded with the different shapes and colors - I am making a lot of pictures and experimenting with oils".

Here is Sveta with "pirogi" and "pechka" (picture made today in the remote Russian village of Shanevo). Look at the murals on the side of the "pechka"! :)

happy birthday in Wilmington

2009-08-17T23:36:00.006-04:00

We went to Wilmington, NC for three day weekend to celebrate my birthday. Had a great time! Ocean was absolutely beautiful. We were swimming a lot. Nadia swims like a mermaid. I used my board - waves were just right! We spend a lot of time on the beach, walked from pier to pier and to the inter coastal waterway. Went to the restaurants in downtown Wilmington. Nice sunsets by the river! Visited Arlie Gardens.

See photos (фотки) here (тут).
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game day

2009-08-13T21:20:00.003-04:00

Little participant of the library story time concert. Screen from a small movie that I made at the event.

Now we have a new idea - Game Day! Do you remember games that you played in your childhood? Kids don't know how to play these days (computer games only!). Especially outside in a group. Together. Like relay race in flippers :))

What games you played when you were a kid? :)

visiting Totally Responsible People

2009-08-02T22:14:00.011-04:00

Irene Lobb (Winston-Salem) and Max Anikeev (Kitezh, Russia)
click to enlarge

We had a very nice tea time in the Center for Purposeful Living in Winston-Salem, NC. Irene who is originally from Kazakhstan and now lives in the community, invited me for a visit and baked a cake (thank you, Irene!). Lee White, who went to Russian community of Kitezh this summer, came to share her experiences and thoughts. She has not only endured two hour talk that was held solely in Russian but actively participated. Her level of Russian is great! The other person there was Max Anikeev, the school principal in Russian village of Kitezh. He is currently visiting the Center for Purposeful Living.

We spend two hours talking about everything - the community of Kitezh , methods of educating children and helping them to get ready to make the world better and better themselves for the world, the meaning of traveling (to get out of your energy pattern box), the island of Valaam (where I lived), and Nikolai Roerich.

Irene's three month old son was quietly sleeping on her shoulder the entire time... :)

I have recorded our talk and made pictures of my new friends.

Children's Concert in the library

2009-08-02T00:08:00.009-04:00

We had a great time at the children's concert in downtown library today. Nadia Bakhireva's students from her Golden Key Music Studio came dressed up. Carmen Hardy sung a very nice Russian song "Субботейя" (in Russian!) and another one in Spanish. Clarissa was singing a French song, and then another song in English, and her brother Mark was playing a keyboard accompanying her. Here they all are:

guests are coming and taking their seats... (all pictures here are clickable)

Mark and Clarissa Espinal - the stars of the show! (click to enlarge)

Carmen Hardy sung Russian song in Russian language! (click to enlarge)

after the performance - together and happy! (click to enlarge)

Chinese girl Chun sung and read a poem in her native language. We also had songs in German and Swahili! It was a very entertaining event with thirty people attending.

Our trip to Utah, Arizona and Wyoming

2009-07-06T22:24:00.009-04:00

this is the big map of our trip
and (down below) the smaller map (both clickable)

In three days we are flying to Salt Lake City! We are going to visit the Land of Canyons in Utah - National Parks Zion, Bryce, Glen, Canyon Lands, and Arches.

Then we are driving down the map to Lake Powell, Rainbow Bridge (Nadia's dream) crossing Arizona state line. Then we plan to spens some time in Monument Valley (my long time dream :) Then - back to Salt Lake city, and up - to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks.

Such as our plan for two weeks on the road.
We taking a tent and two pillows :)

Center for Purposeful Living

2009-07-05T13:23:00.012-04:00

Yesterday we have visited the Center for Purposeful Living. It is located in Winston-Salem, Walkertown exit off Business 40. Fifty people live in the community. They call it 'Intentional Community'. Serving others is the purpose and the method of working with one's consiousness. The goal is to become a totally responsible person.

Their methods of inner work are based on the esotheric psychology of Alice Bailey (with greetings to Madam Blavatski naturally) and probably (my guess) to Live Ethics of Roerikhs. The community was build more than 20 years ago. It doesn't appear to be very active right now on the outside. They closed the facility for the terminally ill people whom they cared for years. The community was initially based on this idea of caring for terminally ill when it was founded in Boomer, NC. They also stopped operating California Buffet in Winston-Salem, and only do catering.

There is a shop on the grounds where the community members work with stones and crystals polishing them and making jewelry. We have met one young Russian woman named Irina in the shop. Irina gave us round glass balls with interesting design that she made. Irina has a baby that was born there three month ago.

Several of the people from the Center for Purposeful Living went this summer to the Russian community of Kitezh not far from Moscow. Russian orphans live in the extended families (large families!) in the village of Kitezh. The village was build for this purpose specifically. Kitezh now has a satellite village of Orion. The houses are round over there "so that kids would not hit the corners" builders say :) We have a book in the library about Kitezh written by one of the founders (in English) - Kitezh : a community approach to raising children in Russia. Check it out!

We were very happy to visit the Center of Purposeful Living and to share the meal with our new friends.

yellow ears

2009-06-26T19:06:00.002-04:00

Nada with big yellow ears... "Harry Porter"s parking lot
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Children's Concert

2009-06-24T20:17:00.002-04:00

The concert is in August 1, 2009 (Saturday) at 11 am in the Children's Room in the Central library. Please come! Kids will be singing in Russian, French, Spanish and English. We'll learn some new words in different languages. You can sing along! :)

our weekend on New River

2009-06-19T15:20:00.013-04:00

kayaking on the New river

2009-06-13T23:43:00.019-04:00

Nadia is ready (and clickable:)

We went to New River for kayaking. The day was perfect. It could not be any finer! New River is the oldest river in USA. It floats unusual direction, not like a river in the mountains suppose to. Seems that the river was here first, and then the mountains came up. New River made it's way here, in NC mountains, before the evolution got started, before the mountains were created :)

Despite its name, the river is considered by some geologists to be possibly one of the oldest rivers in the world, between 10 million and 360 million years old. According to local folklore, it is considered to be second in age only to the Nile River and thus the oldest in North America. The New River flows in a generally south to north course, which is against the southwest to northeast topology of the Appalachian Mountains. This peculiarity may mean that the New River's formation preceded much of the surrounding landscape.

We took a two-seater for $25.00 from Riverside Canoe that we found fairly easily using google maps (the drive from Winston-Salem took about 1 hr and 40 min). The guy with long waist length blond hair and Henry Thoreau attitudes took two of us up the river on the bus. His name was Scott. He looked like a computer programmer from Charlotte :) But he said he was born and lives in Jefferson, and that he enjoys the quiet life in the mountains very much. People here can stay and talk to you for as long as you keep talking. But when you done with your talk, you realize that they are actually quite busy :)

Scott put the kayak in the river. I asked Nadia whom she wants to be today - "a native" or "a scientist". She wanted to be a scientist and sat up front. I was "a native" paddling and doing the work so that the scientist can do the research and observations :) She actually did very well and saw a rare turtle!

The New River was designated an American Heritage River, one of only fourteen in the United States, in 1998. The New River is 337 miles long. Several rare aquatic animals make their home in the basin, including the bog turtle.

The river is so fast in some parts! In other parts it is very slow. The level is high because of recent rains, so we had no major difficulties going over the rapids. It was very enjoyable. I canoed on New river before. That time we flipped over to the amazement of cows on the banks - i lost my sunglasses, but didn't lose the paddle! This time we floated with the speed of the stream, just keeping the kayak going forward.

We passed by funny chain of people on tubes who got stuck on shallow waters. One daddy on the big tube was floating by himself along with two sons in the smaller tubes with "USA" proudly written on them. Daddy was teaching boys how to say really fast "The white background and the black background". I tried, and came up with "the white blackground" very fast :)

click to enlarge. All photos by Natalia Tuchina

art at Ollie's Bakery

2009-06-13T23:30:00.013-04:00

In the morning Nadia and i went to Ollie's bakery in Downtown-Winston Salem. Nice people work there, among them my German friend Annette Zoelinger and my American friend Lee White, who is in Russia right now.

Really cool art works by Cindy Taplin are on walls there. One art work got me but not in the bakery - later, when we went kayaking same day and i saw the same trees but in reality. But may be reality was there, in the bakery, i can't tell. I just like this art work very much! I like the colors, and the texture. And light!

Ask 1st Grader :)

2009-06-10T11:11:00.003-04:00

1st grade. St Piter. My Mom send this pic to me :)
Clickable.

Russian Carolina newspaper

2009-05-31T22:05:00.021-04:00

Russian community of the Carolinas have started a new project - publishing newspaper "Russian Carolina" for the Russian-speaking people in North and South Carolina. It is mainly in Russian, but there is a section in English with Russian language lessons, articles about Russian culture and history. The publisher and the chief editor of the paper is Olga Zhitomirskaja-Muller from St Petersburg, Russia - a poet and a teacher. She has great experience in publishing business and design.

Here is the list of the locations where you can buy the newspaper (scroll down the page). The cost is 50 cents.

You can see the first issue here.

The new paper exists with help of advertisements. Please contact the editor if you'd like to advertise your business. It will help to get the project on it's feet! The publisher runs the sale on advertising in the month of June. You can also place a personal ad in English for free!

Stop by to pick up a copy on 'Russian Carolina" in the Central library in downtown Winston-Salem.

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Nadia's studio Spring Concert

2009-05-15T10:25:00.006-04:00

I was sitting till midnight to create this album - the Spring 2009 Concert of Nadia's Music Studio. For some of the students it was the first performance in their lives - and noone run away from the stage! :))) They were playing piano and singing - I really loved one song in French that Jennifer sang.

SpringConcert

Click on the picture to see the album.

bee keeper

2009-05-13T14:30:00.005-04:00

The first man-made flight has happened in North Carolina. We all have "First in Flight" on our car plates. Nadia and I went to Outer Banks and visited the Wright Brothers monument for the first time. Here is the result :)

Some people think that I look like a bee-keeper...
But the space suite makes me actually look like a space bee-keeper )))

Grandfather, Grandmother

2009-04-29T15:39:00.007-04:00

We went to Grandfather mountain." Nice! It is now a state park, but the mountain is still belong to the family of Mortons. The state has purchased the land around. Same entrance fee - $15.00 per a person (not a car). I talked to a ranger, he said it was around 4 000 people on the mountain that day! But we found a way where it was nobody - GrandMother point. You get up there using the ropes (i liked that). Super! Miles and miles of North Carolina 360 around you. And the skies up above!

Not hot (yet). Everyone - get outside! :)

Easter!

2009-04-19T20:57:00.009-04:00

these are colored eggs that we received as an Easter gift in the monastery
at the end of the service, foto by Nadia

Xristos Voskrese!

Today is Orthodox Easter!

We went to all night service to the Panagia Prousiotissa - Greek Orthodox Monastery in Troy, NC. The monastery is part of 13 Orthodox Monastic communities in USA founded by the Elder Ephrem from Holy Mountain of Athos.

We are so fortunate to have two of them in North Carolina, in only 1 hour and 30 min from Winston-Salem.

Wonderful service, from 11 am until 4 am!
Nightingales were singing in the darkness when we came out of the church.
A lot of stars above!